My Inner Editor

Meet my inner editor:

At our family reunion last month, my brother, Jonathan Hoffman, gave us a sculpting class. This might not be your typical family reunion activity, but your typical family doesn't include a Pixar shading artist. In his spare time, he makes really cool stuff out of Sculpey, like this glow-in-the-dark octopus woman and this giant hairy warrior dude:

 At the reunion we didn't have time to make a full sculpture, but Jon showed us how to make heads. He had all of these great sculpting tools, like rubber brushes and various things for cutting, scraping, and scratching.

Jon said it would be best to start out with some kind of alien creature, or else someone old and ugly. That way it would still look good even if it looked bad. With that in mind, I decided I wanted to see what my inner editor looked like. If I made her, I could put her on my desk and stare her down instead of having her stuck in my head, telling me I wasn't any good.

Yep, that's her all right. Old Sourface. My new reminder to stop listening to self-criticism and just write. So what does your inner editor look like?

Why You Should Never Think You're Going To Be Rich And Famous

A friend of mine sent me this video recently. Maybe you've seen it:

RSA Animate-Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us from The RSA on Vimeo.

The basic idea is that when you offer a really big monetary reward for completing a difficult mental task, people get stupid. They can't do creative, high-level thinking very well. The stress and excitement probably interferes with their brain. We've all seen this. While we're sitting, relaxing in our living rooms and watching a game show we can remember all the answers to the million dollar questions. Why can't that idiot contestant do it? Well, it's because a million dollars is at stake. 

How does this apply to writing?

Unfortunately, there's a natural tendency to assume that writers become rich and famous because most of the writers we hear about are the rich and famous ones. Of course anyone who knows anything about the business knows that's not true, but the impression is still there because the writers we hear about most often are the ones who are rich and famous. Sorry, that's the way it is. It's the same way with people who win the lottery. The losers are never on the billboards, only the winners, so we get this impression that winning isn't so unusual. This "all authors are rich and famous" effect is even bigger for people who don't know much about writing. When my friends hear I'm working on a novel for children, they say, "Oh, so you're going to be like J.K. Rowling."

You wish.

So dig down deep inside and tear out any old, left-over roots of the idea that your brilliant masterpiece of a book is going to make your rich and famous. Not because that's impossible, but because if you're thinking it in the back of your mind, you won't do your best work.

This goes for ANYTHING you see as a big reward. Is your fat, juicy carrot a literary agent? A publishing contract? Ten thousand sales on Amazon? According to the research, carrots just get in your way when you're doing high-level creative work. Forget about your carrot. Tell yourself it doesn't matter. That's not really why you're doing this.

As Daniel Pink explains in his little video presentation, there are three things that people really want, three things they will do creative, high-level brain work for. The first is to be in charge of ourselves. We want the freedom to choose. Next, we want skills. We'll work hard to gain higher levels of expertise in anything that interests us. This is probably why I practice the harp for an hour a day so I can play with an Irish band that performs only four or five times a year for free at churches and libraries. What do I get out of it? Besides hanging out with friends, I'm getting good at something. Third, people want a sense of purpose. We want to be part of a greater cause, we want to make a difference in the world. This is probably why I spend all that time sorting and rinsing containers for recycling. It isn't exactly fun, but I feel like I'm part of a greater purpose.

So is this why I write?

I've certainly got a lot of freedom. At this stage of my career I can write whatever I want. As for skills, there is so much to learn about writing, so much to gain from constant practice, it's kept me happy for half a life-time and I expect it to do the same throughout my remaining years. Do I have a sense of purpose? I think back to the eleven-year-old girl I once was, who was constantly searching the library for a really good book, and the delight I felt every time I found and read one. I write because I want to make children happy. Well, happy, and sad, and angry, and worried, and scared, but then happy again at the end. Children need emotional exercise. I build emotional playground equipment called books.

So what's the external carrot that's tripping you up? Change your focus to the freedom you enjoy as a writer, the skills you're developing, and your sense of purpose. Those are things no one can give you or take away.

What's your muse?

It's always interesting to me to hear how writers view the act of writing. Given we all spend much more time than any sane person ever would, thinking up similes and metaphors, we tend to anthropomorphize or animate just about everything, including whatever it is that empowers, enables, forces, etc. us to write.

Traditionally muses were women, often young and beautiful, which makes sense given the derivation of the word. Stephen King described his muse as a guy who sits in an armchair smoking cigars. The more regular Mr. King was in his writing schedule, the more likely his muse would show up and keep him company.

For me each story has its own kind of muse, and they're all wild, mythical, never before seen animals. For me, the challenge is harnessing them without killing them. If I'm too heavy handed, they become too tame and the resulting story might have some technical merit, but that's about it. So when I'm writing, I go through phases. In the early phases, I try to find the form and shape of the muse. For that I write a TON of verbiage that I will later throw away. Only when I feel confident that I know what kind of beast this is do I move in aggressively. The ideal result for me is to have the muse all hitched up to drive the story, without it being so tied up that it can't take off running and pull the reader through the pages.

What's your muse look like?

Facing Down The Morning

By Leisha Maw

Do you ever have one of those mornings? You know the kind that make you wish Mondays came every day because they are so much easier to deal with that the morning you just had. Well, today was my Kid C's morning.

What made it so bad? Well, to start off with he had to get up. Harsh I know. It was like this:

Me: Good morning!

Kid C groaning and hiding in his covers.

Me coaxing him out: Where's my Bug Man?

Kid C growling at me like a rabid dog.

Me dressing Kid C like an overly large rabid dog/doll and helping/dragging him upstairs.

Kid C flopping on the ground like a dead man getting over rabies.

Me rolling my eyes and setting his breakfast on the table: Dead people get hungry. Are you sure you don't want to eat?

Kid C growling at me. Again.

Yup, it's been one of those. What's he doing right now? He's still playing dead.

What does this have to do with writing? Well for starters, I've been feeling a little bit like Kid C when it comes to writing lately. I growl and mutter at the computer and want to play dead. Why? Because I know I have to make some changes to the end of my WIP, and I don't want to face that. Again.

Funny thing is Kid C just got up and went to school. As he walked out the door with a biscuit in his mouth he smiled. Sigh. I guess the only way to beat this thing is to fortify myself with food and get to work.

What stalls you out your writing projects and how do you beat it? Do you shove a biscuit in your mouth and face it head on, or do you hide under the covers and growl? Or both like me?

Now, where is that last biscuit?

Leisha Maw

Bookstore Inspiration

Sometimes writers need a little inspiration, a kick to propel them forward. When I feel like my writing time becomes sluggish and I lack motivation, I head to the bookstore. It doesn’t matter which one, even the library works, as long as there are scads of books, that’s where I gravitate.



Once there, I head to the YA section. Why? Because I like YA, I read YA, but more importantly, I write YA. Then, I look for books written by my friends, and I stare at the shelf, imprinting the image of their book sitting there in the wild, waiting to be claimed by some hungry reader. And then I imagine mine perched on the shelf, shiny and full of promise. Let’s call it tangible hope—the kind you can wrap your hands around and smell. And that’s just what I do. I pick up their amazing creations, crack the covers and inhale hope.

I’ve spent hours this way, roaming from one book to the other, and then I leave, stuffed with optimism and hungry, too. Hungry for my day when my books will stand next to these others, ready to fill someone’s cravings, or maybe even bring them hope in the form of bookstore inspiration.

Struggling to Write? READ THIS

I've struggled a bit with the writing this week. 

Now, bear in mind that I've written a lot, by which I mean several rough draft chapters and a whole lotta awesome backstory research. 

I don't struggle to have motivation to write: I'm always motivated. If you lack motivation, READ THIS, and then tell me you don't want to sit down immediately and start typing. (p.s. Scalzi is awesome)

So, if I've been writing and I've been motivated, what's the problem?

I'm not always exactly sure where my story wants to go. That's the only thing that can keep me from accomplishing forward movement on an MS. And basically, it's my personal tell that I need to step back and do some more research/thinking. Or simply sit down and see what comes out on the keyboard. Just because I fancy myself a plotter doesn't mean I'm not really a pantser (I am, actually).

What are your writing struggles? And what do you do to overcome them?

Sue